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Blair Wilson

MP talks Olympics, regional issues, and potential election

Blair Wilson, Member of Parliament for West Vancouver-Sunshine Coast-Sea to Sky Country, is taking a working summer holiday this year.

As well as making appearances at events throughout his constituency, Wilson is hosting a town hall series during the summer recess from the House of Commons. From July 19 to Sept. 7, Wilson is making stops in Squamish, West Vancouver, Whistler, Sechelt, Bowen Island, Gibsons and Powell River, inviting the public to come out, ask questions and discuss the topics most important to them. The Whistler meeting is on Tuesday, Aug. 8 at 7 p.m., at MY Millennium Place.

Wilson, a Liberal, was elected in the January federal election after the minority Liberal Party was toppled by a vote of non-confidence. The Conservative Party, under Stephen Harper, won more seats than any other party but were short of a majority, thus ushering in Canada’s second minority government in two years.

But while the country moved to the right politically – partly to punish the Liberal Party for the sponsorship scandal, gun registry debacle, and other high profile transgressions – Whistler’s riding moved to the left for the first time in over a decade. Still it was a close one, as Wilson edged Conservative candidate John Weston by fewer than 1,000 votes.

The credit for the turnaround in the riding has to go to Wilson himself. As a rookie MP he could not be implicated in any of the Liberal Party’s troubles. He also ran a strong campaign, engaging the public at every opportunity with a positive message.

Although he’s been in Parliament for less than a year, Wilson has also been popular within the Liberal Party. He has already been appointed the Associate Finance Critic and the Critic for Sport and Vancouver Olympics. As well, he’s the Chair of the B.C. Caucus of the Liberal Party, and will be active in the party’s current leadership race.

The town hall meetings are keeping with his approach to campaigning, says Wilson.

And if rumours are true he could be campaigning again a lot sooner than he thought.

Pique Newsmagazine spoke with Wilson last week about the summer town hall meetings, and what is on the minds of his constituents.

Pique: What do you hope to accomplish with the town hall meetings?

Blair Wilson: Well part of it is that they’re scheduled all across the riding – West Vancouver, Squamish, Whistler, Sechelt, Powell River, Bowen Island – which will allow constituents in the riding to access me on a one to one basis, and in a public sense to discuss any issues they feel are important to them. They get to voice their opinions directly to their Member of Parliament, and to raise issues of concern.

From another standpoint, it gives me the opportunity to get a better handle on the mood of the riding on the various issues that I can take with me back to Ottawa.

Pique: Whistler is your third town hall. What are the issues that people are asking about at the other meetings – are people focused on what’s going on nationally and internationally, like our current foreign policy, or are people more focused on regional issues?

BW: I really try to make it a kind of informal town hall meeting, I talk briefly at the beginning to get the discussion going and then it goes from there. It’s really a dialogue between myself and constituents, but it’s also a chance for constituents to have discussions among themselves as well. It’s a really interactive process to try and facilitate that kind of dialogue, and as a result we cover a lot of different issues.

I’d say the split is probably 50-50 – half of the topics are the big national or international issues, like Canada’s foreign policy, our role in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and half of the topics relate to very local issues like wastewater treatment facilities, bridges, roads, community centres. And some issues bridge the two, like the environment, Kyoto, all the possible ways municipalities can become more energy efficient and green. It’s quite interesting to be in the room and see how different issues can relate.

Pique: Is that kind of dialogue a value to you, to kind of get the pulse of what constituents are thinking and maybe how you could best spend your time?

BW: It is very valuable. You can really feel something’s going on when you have 40 to 50 people in the room and the discussion turns to the Middle East – should Canada’s role be independent or are people more in favour of the American side of things. It’s clear that the mood in the room is not in favour of Stephen Harper moving closer to (U.S. President) George W. Bush in foreign policy, which confirms what the party believes.

The child-care issue has come up frequently as well. People are happy to receive the $100 a month for each child under six, that’s true, but they also want to know who’s building the child-care spaces.

Pique: Is Stephen Harper and his style of governing a common topic in these discussions?

BW: There is a real sense that he’s getting away from Canadian values. It’s taken some time… for the Canadian people to realize that Harper is taking one step after another away from what Canadians value. In the election he was an easier sell, he was maybe one or two steps away, not too far, but as time goes by he’s taking these giant leaps – especially in his foreign policy – away from where people feel comfortable. In a lot of ways he’s moving in the opposite direction (from) where people want him to be.

That becomes more clear as issues develop more fully. It’s one thing to pull funding out of Kyoto, and it’s another thing when people start to realize that government policies (on climate change) will never get implemented, and that we’re moving in the other direction as the rest of the world, which is moving towards Kyoto.

What’s gratifying for me is to see these issues get raised at town hall meetings and for people to realize that they’re not the only ones that are feeling a certain way. People are applauding each other for standing up and saying these things that maybe needed to be said. That’s another consequence of these meetings, citizens can realize that they’re not alone in their thoughts, and might be more inclined to take action.

Pique: How is the atmosphere in Parliament? Obviously the differences of opinion get the headlines, but are you able to work in any kind of bipartisan way with the Conservatives to move things along?

BW: On a lot of different issues I would say yes, but those are usually the behind the scenes things. We are accomplishing a lot, but it’s usually the one-off independent processes that are self-propelled from an MP’s point of view. You get a file on your desk, like an immigration or security issue we have to deal with, and we move that file through. In that sense we can work with government and the Conservative Party. It’s on the bigger issues that we run into the stone wall of a minister saying "we’re not going down that road."

Pique: Is it difficult for the Liberal Party without a formal leader, and do you have a favourite candidate at this point?

BW: I’m undeclared right now. I’m not supporting anybody at the moment. As the Chair of the B.C. Caucus, I’m hosting the summer national caucus meeting on Aug. 21 to 26 in Vancouver. Not only will there be all 100-plus Members of Parliament, there will be Senators, party representatives, and all of the leadership contenders. The public will be able to come out and listen to the leadership contenders, but as the host I’ll be staying neutral until then.

Obviously it will be great to have a leader to rally around in Parliament after we pick a leader in December, but it hasn’t affected our ability to be a strong opposition party.

Pique: As the Olympic critic, have things been moving along according to plan at the federal level or are there some issues of concern for you?

BW: It’s moving along, but I have to say we’re really dragging our feet on (the Olympics), there are some important milestones government is refusing to move past. One example, obviously, is the $55 million in federal funding the federal government has to put forward to match the provincial government (for increased facility costs).

The Premier (of B.C.) is a strong supporter of the Olympics and (Conservative MP) David Emerson and the Conservatives have refused to make an announcement on whether or not the feds will come to the table and live up to our commitment.

The last I’ve heard is they’ve hired a consultant to review the process, but with the financial statements that VANOC has prepared it was not a surprise that the costs associated from the 2002 (Olympic) budget are different than the costs to date. I applaud (VANOC CEO) John Furlong for keeping the costs contained where they are; they’ve done a good job keeping it down to $110 million (in additional construction funds). We really don’t see the need for the Conservative government to review the file again with a consultant when the minister responsible and his staff can review the numbers and quickly come up with a determination.

Pique: Are there any other Olympic issues outside of the additional funding that VANOC has asked for? For example, are we doing enough to fund sports?

BW: That’s a big issue right now, but the secondary issue I see myself getting into in September and October, when we get a little further along, is reviewing how environmentally-friendly and sustainable the Games really are. It’s one thing to say they’ll be the greenest ever, but it’s another to actually deliver on that.

When we get back to the House in September I will require more documentation from the government as to what steps we’re taking to make the Games sustainable. It’s getting to that time when we have to move beyond the rhetoric and deliver some concrete results – have we done the geothermal portion, can we put solar panels over there or building cisterns to capture rainwater, are we building these facilities to LEED standards?

One of the issues I’ve been pushing is the pilot project from B.C. Transit to put 20 hydrogen powered fuel cell buses in Whistler during the 2010 Games. It’s a $90 million project, 50 per cent from the provincial government and 50 per cent from the federal government, and once again the province seems to be a lot farther along in coming on board with this than the federal government. I’ve written letters about this plan to the appropriate ministers, sent what information I could, and I’m waiting to see what the answer will be.

Pique: Outside of the Olympics, are there any high priority issues that you’re looking to push in the next session of Parliament?

BW: Do you have two hours? I don’t want to muddy the waters getting into details on too many projects, but I can say I’m loving my job, it’s incredible. It’s been go, go, go, but if you’re an A-type personality like myself and you have good people around you moving forward it’s amazing what you can get accomplished.

Pique: How stable is this government? There’s already talk of another election.

BW: I wouldn’t put it past the Conservatives to try and force an early election before we even have an opportunity to elect our new leader. They don’t want us to go through the process of electing a new leader, so the rumbling I’m hearing is that they’ll try to bring down the House of Commons by October and try for a majority.

I think there would be a backlash for being that opportunistic, I don’t think the Canadians want another election.

What I’ve heard is that it will be specifically around the softwood lumber resolution, the talk is that they’ll bring it to the House and make it a confidence issue. If we vote it down we’ll be forcing the government down and going back to the people.

The decision will be made by a combination of the polls. I think the Conservatives may realize they’re slipping – foreign policy, their stance on Afghanistan and the Middle East are eroding their numbers.

At the same time we’re in the midst of a leadership race that will boost media exposure for the Liberal Party. We’re going to be coming up and they’re going to be coming down. From a tactical standpoint I don’t think the Conservatives will want to wait until February or March of next year and find that they’re trailing in the polls – they want to do something now while their numbers are higher.

Pique: Are you up for another campaign?

BW: I love campaigning, it will give me another opportunity to get out there and talk to people in the riding. But I don’t think the Canadian people are in the mood for an election. We’ve just gone through a number of them and the people want us to do our job and produce results.



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